454 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



quarry upon his farm; and yet such is the des- 

 ponding condition of agricuiture in this country, 

 that little or no attention is paid lo the subject. 



We visited Wharton Point, a high bluffofroll- 

 ing-iand that projects some distance into the Che- 

 sapeake, and forms rather a pleasant prospect of 

 land and water scenery; but what was far more 

 interesting, were the beds of shells which cover a 

 Bpace perhaps of fi/ty acres from one to six feet 

 deep. 



This property lies nearly opposite the mouth of 

 the Susquehanna, which is constantly disgorging 

 great quantities of all kinds of drift wood upon the 

 shore. With this wood they burn the shell lime 

 at an expense of about two cents per bushel. 



The proprietors of this estate live in Delaware, 

 and are making efforts to introduce the Pennsyl- 

 vania mode of farming into the neighborhood; 

 they have now on hand thirty-thousand bushels 

 of shell lime, which is to be drawn out this sea- 

 son and spread at the rate of one hundred bush- 

 els to the acre for the next year's crop. We had 

 taken with us small quantities of ruta baga, 

 mangel wurtzel, and sugar beet^ seed, and here 

 we found a person willing to prepare a piece of 

 ground to try the experiment of root -culture with 

 the siftings or dust from the shells as a manure. 

 We likewise engaged him to make an experiment 

 upon an acre of poor land in raising of wheat. 

 We directed him to turn the land down with the 

 plough, spread upon it one hundred bushels of 

 shell lime, sow it with three bushels of oats; when 

 the oats had grown up and was beginning to 

 change its color, roll it down, plough it in and sow 

 the ground with two bushels of corn broad cast; 

 about the second week in October, roll the corn 

 down, plough it in and sow the frround with 

 wheat. To give this experiment a fair trial, the 

 oats should have been sown in the early part of 

 the fourth month. 



I am inclined to the opinion that the above plan 

 would make the principal part of Delaware and 

 Maryland produce twenty bushels of wheat to the 

 acre, which, at %1.50 per bushel, would buy the 

 land and pay all expenses of lime, seed and labor, 

 and if laid down with clover, would, for a succes- 

 sion of years, produce good crops of hay and pas- 

 ture. Such an investment of idle money would 

 be more profitable than shaving notes at 'two per 

 cent, a month, besides the additional security of 

 real estate, and the satisfaction every generous 

 mind must feel in the reflection that his labor has 

 made two blades of grass grow where but one ffrew 

 before. This peninsula possesses local advan- 

 tages that fevv places in our country can boast. 

 A soil peculiarly adapted to raisincr of grain, one 

 that is easily improved and very difficult to wear 

 out. It is watered with such a number of creeks, 

 outlets and bays, that many of their farms are 

 bounded by navigable streams, and very i'ew in- 

 deed that lie further than five or six miles from a 

 landing where abundance of lime and plaster can 

 be had at reasonable prices, stone lime from the 

 Schuylkill sells from sixteen to twenty cents per 

 bushel, and shell lime at about half the price. 



While so many are enamoured with the "fai 

 west," parting with their friends, their homes, 

 and their fire-sides, for a prospect of buying land 

 cheap, and being independent, for ,$1,25 per acre, 

 could here buy hundreds of acres for less than no- 

 thing, compared with the wild lands of the west, 



and that too within a day's journey of three of 

 the largest cities in the Union. I say less than 

 nothing, for such is the depressed state of agricul- 

 ture in tlie peninsula, that farms are often sold for 

 less than the buildings, fences and other improve- 

 ments have cost. 



It is certainly a question of some importance, 

 whether the worn-out lands of Delaware, Mary- 

 land, and other parts of our country cannot be 

 improved at less expense than to clear off the al- 

 most impenetrable forests of the west. When 

 we consider the time it necessarily occupies to 

 clear and make ready for the plough a hundred 

 acres of heavy timbered land, the expense of la- 

 bor, where labor is not easily obtained, the dis- 

 tance from market, the privations and hardships 

 inseparably connected with new settlements; it 

 seems at least worthy of an experimenl to ascer- 

 tain the fact. A Surscriber. 



Wibrmigton, Bel. 5ih mo. 18, 1837. 



THE MARL INDICATOK. 



It has been long and generally believed aciong tfie 

 mailing farmers of King William county, and the ad- 

 joining country, that tlie growth of a certain plant, in 

 running water, indicates, with absolute certainty, the 

 presence of marl, or beds of fossil shells, some where 

 higher up the stream. The great value of any such 

 indication, to those who are searching for marl, is obvi- 

 ous. We were informed of the peculiar rule of loca- 

 tion of this plant several years ago, by our friend and 

 correspondent. Dr. William B. Westinore, then a resi- 

 dent of King William; and, at that time, requested 

 such particular information as would enable us to iden- 

 tify the plant, and, by publishing the description, to 

 furnish all the readers of the Farmers' Register the 

 means to avail of its use, in showing the before hidden 

 presence of marl on their lands, or in their neighbor- 

 hood. Dr. Westmore caused a correct colored draw- 

 ing to be made of the plant, by a good artist who hap- 

 pened to be at his house; and from the drawing we 

 have had engraved the representation which ac- 

 companies this article ; and which, with our own 

 description, may enable persons without botanical 

 knowledge to identify the plant. But to those who 

 possess any thing of that knowledge, (to which we 

 have no pretension,) a much surer means of identifica- 

 tion is offered in the following report of the botanical 

 character of the plant, which was furnished at our re- 

 quest by a correspondent, who is much better inform- 

 ed on the subject, and to whom the growing plant was 

 exhibited. His report was as follows : 



"I carefully examined the plant yo\i pointed out to 

 me, when heie, as indicating the presence of marl in 

 the earth, or as growing only in streams supplied with 

 calcareous matter. Though the flowers are very smalt, 

 the botanical character is obvious, and easily deter- 

 mined. The plant belongs to the second class and 

 first order of the artificial system, {diandrw monogy- 

 nia,) and to the genus Veronica of that order. Lou- 

 don describes 84 species of this genus, only one of 

 which ( Veronica Virginiea, with a variety, Iiicarnata,} 

 is American. This plant does not agree with any of 

 the numerous species described by Loudon, and 1 

 very much doubt whether it is described by any bota- 



